Setchell said: “Sam text me Saturday night saying he wanted more security and a few bits and pieces.

“I rang the chairman (Buster Chapman) late that night and we agreed to meet every demand. But when I spoke to Sam on Sunday he said he’d had his head turned by other clubs and that his parents might be moving to Somerset.

“I’d rather he did what Webby did, which was ring up and be straight and to the point rather than beating around the bush.

“It’s disappointing when you agree terms with someone as everything he asked for we gave him, including paying his physio for treatment on his ankle.”

The Linnets boss says he will replace Gaughran, who has signed a two-year at Lowestoft, but has already “missed out” on one or two targets.

“Players get itchy feet but it’s disappointing to have been on the wrong side of a U-Turn this time,” said Setchell, who was on the right end of a change of heart at the weekend when Kettering-bound midfielder Dan Quigley joined Lynn from Long Buckby.

“The defenders I’ve approached have signed deals and they’re staying loyal to their clubs. It’s how it should be done. A seven-day approach from Lowestoft for Sam would have had the same affect had we have actually had the Evo-Stik forms and he’d signed them too.

“You can’t put everyone on contract as it puts the club in trouble. Lessons have been learnt and we don’t want Lynn to end up being in a financial mess again.”

Trawlerboys director of football Craig Fleming said Gaughran, a former Peterborough United player, thought he “had made a mistake” in signing for Lynn.

He said: “He had not signed anything at King’s Lynn and we are only too pleased to have him back – we never wanted him to go in the first place.

“He didn’t really want to go – it was a case that the travelling was killing him coming from King’s Lynn. But his circumstances have changed now and it’s great to get him back to the club.

“There are still things he can improve on but he had a very good season for us and is a big player for us.”